FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The Dax continued its downward slide at an accelerated pace on Friday following a weak US labor market report. "Hopes of an interest rate cut are turning into fear of a recession," said analyst Jochen Stanzl from the broker CMC Markets in his stock market commentary. At the end of trading, the leading German index had lost 2.33 percent to 17,661.22 points. It thus suffered its biggest daily loss since March 2023 and reached its lowest level since April. It had already lost more ground on Thursday than it had for over a year. The weekly loss of 4.1% is the biggest in two years.

For 2024, the Dax gain has thus melted to 5.4%. As a result, the 200-day line, which is an important indicator of the long-term trend and currently stands at just under 17,400 points, is slowly but surely coming under threat. The stock market barometer had already fallen below the average lines for the short to medium-term trend on Thursday.

The MDax of medium-sized companies ultimately lost 2.15 percent to 24,464.06 points on Friday. The EuroStoxx 50, the leading eurozone index, fell by 2.7 percent. While the London Stock Exchange lost noticeably less, the drop in Zurich was considerably higher. New York's leading index, the Dow Jones Industrial, lost 2.5 percent at the end of European trading, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 fell by 2.8 percent./gl/he